Last Cincinnati Abortion Clinic Gets State Warning

The Department of Health has warned that Cincinnati's last abortion clinic risks losing its license if it doesn't get a patient-transfer agreement with a local hospital as required by Ohio law. The notification was sent this week to the facility run by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region. Its vice president for external affairs, Rick Pender, said it can't meet the requirement. Pender said the clinic had an agreement with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center that couldn't continue because state rules approved in 2013 banned publicly funded hospitals from having such agreements with abortion providers. Pender says most other Cincinnati-area hospitals are run by Catholic organizations. The clinic wants approval for an alternative emergency-care arrangement with doctors from the remaining hospital. Pender said the state hasn't acted on that request.